Trapped V - Run Away
And it's another chapter of my GwenOwen fic!
Went for angst and suspense with this. Hope it works.
Nearly there now. Only the ending to write. One more chapter and an epilogue I think... but don't hold me to that!
Title: Trapped V - Run Away
Rating: PG for language. NC17 other bits.
Disclaimer: Torchwood is way too cool to me mine!
Summary: it all gets too much for Gwen. Will she make a choice?
‘Smack!’ the loud slapping sound echoed around the tiled walls of the medical bay.
“What the fuck was that for?” Owen demanded, stunned and confused, his hand flying up to cover his smarting cheek and stepping backwards.
Gwen’s eyes were blazing with rage and bright with tears. “You wanker! Of all the low and despicable things to say.” Her voice was low and dangerous.
“What? What did I say?” Owen was totally confused now. He didn’t make a habit of telling anyone he loved them and now that he had this was certainly not the reaction he had expected.
“You can be a real wanker sometimes Owen,” Gwen looked like she was going to hit him again. “I didn’t think even you would sink so low to win an argument.”
Owen suddenly realised what had happened and he started to laugh.
Gwen raised her hand but Owen’s reflexes were quicker and he caught her wrist. He held both her arms tightly as Gwen struggled violently. “Let me go. Let. Me. Go,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
Somehow Owen manoeuvred Gwen between himself and the wall and forced her to stop moving.
“Now, are you going to listen to me?” he asked, a smirk on his face.
“Have I a choice?” she bit back, wishing Jack, Ianto or Tosh would come back.
“Listen to what I’m saying, yeah?”
Gwen gave a short final struggle to let him know she wasn’t happy.
“Gwen this is getting boring. Just stop ok.”
She stopped moving but glowered at him to let him know she was not pleased. She couldn’t read his expression and wondered if she should be scared of him or just angry like she was now.
Owen smiled gently. “I meant what I just said Gwen, I love ya, ok?” He waited for her reaction.
Nothing. Nothing but staring and the heaving of their breath.
Owen let go of Gwen’s arm and lifted her chin, grazing his thumb across her cheek. He swallowed.
‘Was he nervous?’ she thought.
“You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You are brave and you care about people and you take no shit from any of us,” he paused and moved closer to her, “and bloody sexy too.” He caught her bottom lip in his and sucked gently for a second.
He felt Gwen’s body relax against him but he still couldn’t read her expression. Not angry anymore, not happy either.
“Owen,” she breathed, and he was surprised to hear her voice full of pain.
She sank against him, letting him wrap his arms around her. “Gwen?”
“This is too hard,” she gulped, trying to keep her composure. Weakly she pushed him away. Owen watched as she walked towards the steps, her body slumped under the weight of her troubles.
“Gwen!” he called after her. She hooked her jacket and dragged it after her as she walked out of the Hub without looking back.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Rain was pouring down from the darkness as Gwen pulled her car into the car park of a small country hotel. The bright yellow light coming from the windows did nothing to make her feel better.
Pulling on her jacket and grabbing her holdall she made a dash for the door. A disinterested teenager checked her in and handed over the room key, giving her direction to her room.
Gwen let herself into the room and locked the door behind her. The room was clean and cosy, and best of all quiet. Her mobile was off and only one person knew where she was.
Turning off all the lights she opened the curtains to look out at the rain. She stared at the drops lashing the window, hearing the persistent and strangely comforting rhythm.
With a sigh she turned on her phone and sent a text. Nothing but the address of where she was. She turned the phone off again before Jack could call her back. Then she lay back on her bed, curtains still open, still in the dark and stared out into the night.
He’d refused to give her time off without talking to him. They met for an early evening drink on the edge of the city, after she’d walked out of the Hub, gone home and packed a bag.
She told him she needed a break. Time on her own. It had all poured out. Rhys. Owen. How she felt torn.
He didn’t try to convince her to stay. But he made her promise to check in with him every day, let him know where she was. No, he promised, he would not tell Owen where she was. He’d tell them all it was a family emergency. And no, he’d not tell Rhys either. If the man did manage to contact them he’d say she was on a work mission.
Lying in her country hotel room Gwen felt like crap. She hadn’t been able to eat. The coffee she drank to stay awake driving was burning a hole in her stomach. The weather outside seemed to mirror how she felt inside, she thought, as she watched the tree branches being tossed around in the gale.
She didn’t expect to sleep, but the emotional exhaustion of the day was stronger than her pain.
Sometime in early hours she woke, fully clothed, lying on top of the bed. The sun was just starting to tinge the horizon a pinky glow. She didn’t feel rested at all and couldn’t go back to sleep.
An hour later she was in the middle of nowhere, her boots and jeans muddy, her hair windswept. After her last trip to the Breacons Gwen never expected to go back willingly. But its stark loneliness was what she needed now.
She sat on a boulder over looking a valley. She could have been there for hours, she didn’t keep time, but she grew stiff and cold. It drizzled and she got damp. She had one simple decision to make. One decision. And it was the hardest she had ever had to make in her whole life.
Rhys loved her. He was kind and gentle, good hearted, and would never hurt her. She’d imagined what their kids would look like and his mum liked her, she smiled.
Owen. Just thinking his name made her think things she had never even done with Rhys. But how well did she know him? Would he get bored of her? Did he mean it when he said he loved her?
And who did she love?
That night she texted Jack again. ‘Coming home tomorrow.’ Gwen had made her decision.
[i]Part 2[/i]
In the note she left for Rhys before she went away, Gwen had said she’d only be a day or two. It was Saturday and he was expecting her home, even though he’d had no messages or call and her phone was always off when he tried to ring. He tried not to worry, but he did anyway.
He did the grocery shopping and got the ingredients for her favourite dinner, then pottered around the flat. Dav rang to see if he was up for a few pints. He made up an excuse. He missed Gwen and he wanted to be there when she came home.
* * * *
Saturday morning Owen woke up late. Hungover. And mercifully alone. He had a vague recollection of the night before. Leaving the Hub, a bar, then another bar, then a nightclub. It was the whiskey when he got home, he decided, that caused the pain in his head.
Despite the ripping sensation in his brain that made him pull the duvet over his head against the light, his first thought was still Gwen. He’d thought of almost nothing else since she walked of out the Hub two days before.
When she didn’t turn up for work on Friday he was worried. Then he figured out Jack knew where she was and he would not tell him. They’d had words. Loud words. Jack had told him to stop thinking with his cock and back off.
It had taken Ianto to calm it down. Owen sulked in his medical bay for the day and left early.
* * * * *
Gwen checked out of her hotel after breakfast. Not that she had eaten much. Her decision may have been made but she was dreading the two ‘conversations’ she was going to have to have when she got back to Cardiff.
She got there at lunch time - and chickened out of going straight to see the people she needed to talk to. So she went to see her mum. And lied through her teeth about how great everything was.
* * * * *
It was getting dark when Rhys finally popped open a can of beer and sat down in front of the television. He checked his watch. 6.30. Gwen’s favourite Ant and Dec was starting. He wondered if she would be home to watch it.
* * * * *
The bells of then nearby Catholic church rang out 6 o’clock as Owen walked back to his car. It was Saturday and Jack had him working. He was used to it. He wondered where Gwen was, or if Jack would tell him if he asked again.
* * * * *
Gwen let her mum make her tea. She didn’t want to be fussed over but she didn’t want to leave and do what she knew she had to either.
It was her mother’s quiet enquiry “Is everything alright with you and Rhys love?” as her favourite Saturday evening tv show started, and her reluctanct to leave was obvious, that pushed her into action. Questions from her mother she could not take.
* * * * *
Rhys tried Gwen’s phone again. Straight to voicemail. He sighed and started dinner anyway. Maybe her battery was flat.
* * * *
A mile away, in a dark room overlooking Cardiff Bay someone else tried to get through to Gwen’s mobile without success. ‘Where the hell is she?’ he thought. For the hundredth time since she walked out on him Owen cursed the fact he’d admitted how he felt. But he couldn’t deny it.
* * * * *
It was the first time Gwen had driven through half empty streets that she wished for red lights and hold ups. The dashboard lights showed her it was almost 7 p.m. They would both be home by now. She was at a junction where the time had come to confirm her decision and take the last step. One road led home. One back towards the bay.
* * * * *
Rhys jumped when his phone rang and dived across the room to pick it up. His mother picked up the disappointment in his voice when he heard who it was and he had to listen to her complain for the next ten minutes before the excuse that dinner was burning got him free. He checked his timer. 7.10pm
* * * * *
7.05 Owen’s mobile beeped with a text message. He cursed himself for jumping to it like a lovesick teenager. Even thought the voice at the back of his mind said that was exactly what he was. Lovesick. Pining. “Fucking junk texts,” he threw the phone across the room and reached for the whiskey bottle. It was empty. He grabbed his jacket and slammed the front door of his flat as he left.
* * * * *
Gwen pulled her car into a parking space. This was it. Her stomach was churning with nerves. What would he say? ‘Don’t think about it. Just say it and get it over with,’ she told herself.
Whatever happened in the next few hours she knew that in some huge ways her life would have to change, and the prospect more than scared her.
* * * * * *
Rhys watched the car lights passing along the road as he set the table for two. He tried to lean out far enough to see Gwen’s usual parking spot. Were they headlights? He decided to go down and look.
* * * * *
Owen took the long way home. Noting to hurry for, he figured. Passing off the shortcut through his building’s car park he walked right around the building before the freezing wind forced him back inside.
* * * * *
She wasn’t a copper any more but something like lax building security annoyed Gwen. The front door to the building was open as she approached it. She made sure to close and let the lock click into place after her before heading to the lift.
* * * * *
Standing outside the door of the flat she paused. Her hand toying nervously with the keyring in her pocket. Last chance to change her mind. She prayed she was making the right decision. Her head kept throwing up questions, what if’s, but her heart was sure.
* * * * * *
She didn’t want to let herself in, he’d be expecting that. She’d surprise him. She knocked.
She waited.
No answer.
The key was in her hand. No. She’d wait.
Gwen slid down to sit against the door, pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She was so tired.
* * * * *
That was where he found her. Her head resting on her knees, her arms looped around her legs, her breath even. Sleeping.
When he stepped out of the lift after his short time outside she took his breath away she was so peaceful, so beautiful, even like this. Looking worn and exhausted. God he had missed her when she as away.
* * * * *
Another man came in from outside, from the cold wind and looked around his empty flat. It needed Gwen there to make it a place he wanted to be. He missed her.
* * * * *
Gently he sat down beside Gwen, the glass bottle in his paper bag clinking on the ground. The movement and noise made Gwen open her eyes. She smiled drowsily. It was infectious. He smiled back at her as he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt him plant a kiss on the top of her head.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Nothing needed to be said now. They both knew.
“Come on inside, yeah.”
He helped her up but as he was putting his key in the lock her hand rested on his and her gaze met him. “I love you too.”
Went for angst and suspense with this. Hope it works.
Nearly there now. Only the ending to write. One more chapter and an epilogue I think... but don't hold me to that!
Title: Trapped V - Run Away
Rating: PG for language. NC17 other bits.
Disclaimer: Torchwood is way too cool to me mine!
Summary: it all gets too much for Gwen. Will she make a choice?
‘Smack!’ the loud slapping sound echoed around the tiled walls of the medical bay.
“What the fuck was that for?” Owen demanded, stunned and confused, his hand flying up to cover his smarting cheek and stepping backwards.
Gwen’s eyes were blazing with rage and bright with tears. “You wanker! Of all the low and despicable things to say.” Her voice was low and dangerous.
“What? What did I say?” Owen was totally confused now. He didn’t make a habit of telling anyone he loved them and now that he had this was certainly not the reaction he had expected.
“You can be a real wanker sometimes Owen,” Gwen looked like she was going to hit him again. “I didn’t think even you would sink so low to win an argument.”
Owen suddenly realised what had happened and he started to laugh.
Gwen raised her hand but Owen’s reflexes were quicker and he caught her wrist. He held both her arms tightly as Gwen struggled violently. “Let me go. Let. Me. Go,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
Somehow Owen manoeuvred Gwen between himself and the wall and forced her to stop moving.
“Now, are you going to listen to me?” he asked, a smirk on his face.
“Have I a choice?” she bit back, wishing Jack, Ianto or Tosh would come back.
“Listen to what I’m saying, yeah?”
Gwen gave a short final struggle to let him know she wasn’t happy.
“Gwen this is getting boring. Just stop ok.”
She stopped moving but glowered at him to let him know she was not pleased. She couldn’t read his expression and wondered if she should be scared of him or just angry like she was now.
Owen smiled gently. “I meant what I just said Gwen, I love ya, ok?” He waited for her reaction.
Nothing. Nothing but staring and the heaving of their breath.
Owen let go of Gwen’s arm and lifted her chin, grazing his thumb across her cheek. He swallowed.
‘Was he nervous?’ she thought.
“You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You are brave and you care about people and you take no shit from any of us,” he paused and moved closer to her, “and bloody sexy too.” He caught her bottom lip in his and sucked gently for a second.
He felt Gwen’s body relax against him but he still couldn’t read her expression. Not angry anymore, not happy either.
“Owen,” she breathed, and he was surprised to hear her voice full of pain.
She sank against him, letting him wrap his arms around her. “Gwen?”
“This is too hard,” she gulped, trying to keep her composure. Weakly she pushed him away. Owen watched as she walked towards the steps, her body slumped under the weight of her troubles.
“Gwen!” he called after her. She hooked her jacket and dragged it after her as she walked out of the Hub without looking back.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Rain was pouring down from the darkness as Gwen pulled her car into the car park of a small country hotel. The bright yellow light coming from the windows did nothing to make her feel better.
Pulling on her jacket and grabbing her holdall she made a dash for the door. A disinterested teenager checked her in and handed over the room key, giving her direction to her room.
Gwen let herself into the room and locked the door behind her. The room was clean and cosy, and best of all quiet. Her mobile was off and only one person knew where she was.
Turning off all the lights she opened the curtains to look out at the rain. She stared at the drops lashing the window, hearing the persistent and strangely comforting rhythm.
With a sigh she turned on her phone and sent a text. Nothing but the address of where she was. She turned the phone off again before Jack could call her back. Then she lay back on her bed, curtains still open, still in the dark and stared out into the night.
He’d refused to give her time off without talking to him. They met for an early evening drink on the edge of the city, after she’d walked out of the Hub, gone home and packed a bag.
She told him she needed a break. Time on her own. It had all poured out. Rhys. Owen. How she felt torn.
He didn’t try to convince her to stay. But he made her promise to check in with him every day, let him know where she was. No, he promised, he would not tell Owen where she was. He’d tell them all it was a family emergency. And no, he’d not tell Rhys either. If the man did manage to contact them he’d say she was on a work mission.
Lying in her country hotel room Gwen felt like crap. She hadn’t been able to eat. The coffee she drank to stay awake driving was burning a hole in her stomach. The weather outside seemed to mirror how she felt inside, she thought, as she watched the tree branches being tossed around in the gale.
She didn’t expect to sleep, but the emotional exhaustion of the day was stronger than her pain.
Sometime in early hours she woke, fully clothed, lying on top of the bed. The sun was just starting to tinge the horizon a pinky glow. She didn’t feel rested at all and couldn’t go back to sleep.
An hour later she was in the middle of nowhere, her boots and jeans muddy, her hair windswept. After her last trip to the Breacons Gwen never expected to go back willingly. But its stark loneliness was what she needed now.
She sat on a boulder over looking a valley. She could have been there for hours, she didn’t keep time, but she grew stiff and cold. It drizzled and she got damp. She had one simple decision to make. One decision. And it was the hardest she had ever had to make in her whole life.
Rhys loved her. He was kind and gentle, good hearted, and would never hurt her. She’d imagined what their kids would look like and his mum liked her, she smiled.
Owen. Just thinking his name made her think things she had never even done with Rhys. But how well did she know him? Would he get bored of her? Did he mean it when he said he loved her?
And who did she love?
That night she texted Jack again. ‘Coming home tomorrow.’ Gwen had made her decision.
[i]Part 2[/i]
In the note she left for Rhys before she went away, Gwen had said she’d only be a day or two. It was Saturday and he was expecting her home, even though he’d had no messages or call and her phone was always off when he tried to ring. He tried not to worry, but he did anyway.
He did the grocery shopping and got the ingredients for her favourite dinner, then pottered around the flat. Dav rang to see if he was up for a few pints. He made up an excuse. He missed Gwen and he wanted to be there when she came home.
* * * *
Saturday morning Owen woke up late. Hungover. And mercifully alone. He had a vague recollection of the night before. Leaving the Hub, a bar, then another bar, then a nightclub. It was the whiskey when he got home, he decided, that caused the pain in his head.
Despite the ripping sensation in his brain that made him pull the duvet over his head against the light, his first thought was still Gwen. He’d thought of almost nothing else since she walked of out the Hub two days before.
When she didn’t turn up for work on Friday he was worried. Then he figured out Jack knew where she was and he would not tell him. They’d had words. Loud words. Jack had told him to stop thinking with his cock and back off.
It had taken Ianto to calm it down. Owen sulked in his medical bay for the day and left early.
* * * * *
Gwen checked out of her hotel after breakfast. Not that she had eaten much. Her decision may have been made but she was dreading the two ‘conversations’ she was going to have to have when she got back to Cardiff.
She got there at lunch time - and chickened out of going straight to see the people she needed to talk to. So she went to see her mum. And lied through her teeth about how great everything was.
* * * * *
It was getting dark when Rhys finally popped open a can of beer and sat down in front of the television. He checked his watch. 6.30. Gwen’s favourite Ant and Dec was starting. He wondered if she would be home to watch it.
* * * * *
The bells of then nearby Catholic church rang out 6 o’clock as Owen walked back to his car. It was Saturday and Jack had him working. He was used to it. He wondered where Gwen was, or if Jack would tell him if he asked again.
* * * * *
Gwen let her mum make her tea. She didn’t want to be fussed over but she didn’t want to leave and do what she knew she had to either.
It was her mother’s quiet enquiry “Is everything alright with you and Rhys love?” as her favourite Saturday evening tv show started, and her reluctanct to leave was obvious, that pushed her into action. Questions from her mother she could not take.
* * * * *
Rhys tried Gwen’s phone again. Straight to voicemail. He sighed and started dinner anyway. Maybe her battery was flat.
* * * *
A mile away, in a dark room overlooking Cardiff Bay someone else tried to get through to Gwen’s mobile without success. ‘Where the hell is she?’ he thought. For the hundredth time since she walked out on him Owen cursed the fact he’d admitted how he felt. But he couldn’t deny it.
* * * * *
It was the first time Gwen had driven through half empty streets that she wished for red lights and hold ups. The dashboard lights showed her it was almost 7 p.m. They would both be home by now. She was at a junction where the time had come to confirm her decision and take the last step. One road led home. One back towards the bay.
* * * * *
Rhys jumped when his phone rang and dived across the room to pick it up. His mother picked up the disappointment in his voice when he heard who it was and he had to listen to her complain for the next ten minutes before the excuse that dinner was burning got him free. He checked his timer. 7.10pm
* * * * *
7.05 Owen’s mobile beeped with a text message. He cursed himself for jumping to it like a lovesick teenager. Even thought the voice at the back of his mind said that was exactly what he was. Lovesick. Pining. “Fucking junk texts,” he threw the phone across the room and reached for the whiskey bottle. It was empty. He grabbed his jacket and slammed the front door of his flat as he left.
* * * * *
Gwen pulled her car into a parking space. This was it. Her stomach was churning with nerves. What would he say? ‘Don’t think about it. Just say it and get it over with,’ she told herself.
Whatever happened in the next few hours she knew that in some huge ways her life would have to change, and the prospect more than scared her.
* * * * * *
Rhys watched the car lights passing along the road as he set the table for two. He tried to lean out far enough to see Gwen’s usual parking spot. Were they headlights? He decided to go down and look.
* * * * *
Owen took the long way home. Noting to hurry for, he figured. Passing off the shortcut through his building’s car park he walked right around the building before the freezing wind forced him back inside.
* * * * *
She wasn’t a copper any more but something like lax building security annoyed Gwen. The front door to the building was open as she approached it. She made sure to close and let the lock click into place after her before heading to the lift.
* * * * *
Standing outside the door of the flat she paused. Her hand toying nervously with the keyring in her pocket. Last chance to change her mind. She prayed she was making the right decision. Her head kept throwing up questions, what if’s, but her heart was sure.
* * * * * *
She didn’t want to let herself in, he’d be expecting that. She’d surprise him. She knocked.
She waited.
No answer.
The key was in her hand. No. She’d wait.
Gwen slid down to sit against the door, pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She was so tired.
* * * * *
That was where he found her. Her head resting on her knees, her arms looped around her legs, her breath even. Sleeping.
When he stepped out of the lift after his short time outside she took his breath away she was so peaceful, so beautiful, even like this. Looking worn and exhausted. God he had missed her when she as away.
* * * * *
Another man came in from outside, from the cold wind and looked around his empty flat. It needed Gwen there to make it a place he wanted to be. He missed her.
* * * * *
Gently he sat down beside Gwen, the glass bottle in his paper bag clinking on the ground. The movement and noise made Gwen open her eyes. She smiled drowsily. It was infectious. He smiled back at her as he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt him plant a kiss on the top of her head.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Nothing needed to be said now. They both knew.
“Come on inside, yeah.”
He helped her up but as he was putting his key in the lock her hand rested on his and her gaze met him. “I love you too.”